The Facebook face-off over atheism

[cbayer]

http://www.thestate.com/2014/04/26/3409452/jones-the-facebook-face-off-over.html?sp=/99/168/


KIRK LYTTLE — KRT

BY NEAL JONES
Guest Columnist
April 26, 2014

COLUMBIA, SC — I feel like I’m stepping into the middle of a Facebook fracas between two high school girls, but since there is an adult issue involved, here I go. While most people have focused on the back-and-forth accusations over what Sen. Katrina Shealy did or didn’t say and what Gov. Nikki Haley said about her, the most interesting part of their dispute over Department of Social Services Director Lillian Koller’s religion was Shealy’s conclusion: “I don’t give a flying flip what the Director is …. Well that is not true either, I would worry if she were an atheist.”

Really? And why is that? If Koller were an atheist (she apparently isn’t), how would that negatively affect her job performance? Why would anyone’s religious beliefs or lack of beliefs be an issue at all?

Of course, we all know why. The issue is prejudice. Atheists are one of the most maligned groups in America, especially in the Christian South, where the first question someone asks upon meeting you is, “So where do you go to church?” According to polls, being atheist is more unacceptable in America than being gay, Muslim or Jewish. Heck, even Gov. Haley and Sen. Shealy can accept a Jewish director of Social Services, but apparently not an atheist.

Recently, a group of atheists in Spartanburg was excluded from volunteering at a soup kitchen. Its executive director said she’d resign from her job before she would let atheists volunteer and be a “disservice to this community,” adding that the Christian organization that runs the soup kitchen “stands on the principles of God.” Apparently, allowing others to help the less fortunate goes against her Christian principles.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/04/26/3409452/jones-the-facebook-face-off-over.html?sp=/99/168/#storylink=cpy